Dangote threatens to sack Wenger

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote has reiterated claims he could buy Arsenal and will definitely fire Arsene Wenger if he does.

In recent years, the Nigerian, who is Africa’s richest man and is worth $11.1 billion, has made several claims about buying the club.

In 2010, he made a failed bid to purchase a minority stake and in the following years was twice linked to the club.

In an interview, Dangote said: “The first thing I would change is the coach. He has done a good job, but someone else should also try his luck.”

Dangote, as noted during the interview, has been an Arsenal fan since the 1980s and expects to make an offer for the club once construction of an oil refinery in Lagos, Nigeria’s capital city, is completed.

The refinery is likely to be built by 2020, which will be just a year after Wenger’s new two-year contract expires.

This isn’t the first time Dangote has been linked with the club.

He claims he tried to buy a minority stake in the club in 2010, and failed.

Five years later Dangote once again spoke of his desire to own the club but, as he has now, put it off, while he took ‘my own business to a certain level’.

However, Dangote remains as convinced now as he was back then that when the time does roll around, he will have little trouble in persuading majority owner Stan Kroenke in parting with his 67 percent of the club.

He continued: “If they [Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov] get the right offer, I’m sure they would walk away. Someone will give them an offer that will make them seriously consider walking away. And when we finish the refinery, I think we will be in a position to do that.

“It’s a great team, well-run. It could be run better, so I will be there. I will wait. Even if things change I will take it.”